In one broadcasting network segment of the Ethernet, the configuration conflict of IP (Internet Protocol, internet protocol) address will cause an abnormal communication in the network segment, so that the conflicting and conflicted parts both cannot communicate normally. In the prior art, ARP (Address Resolution Protocol, address resolution protocol) is usually used through the following ways to detect conflict.
An owner of an IP address sends ARP request message periodically to the broadcasting network segment. If the owner of the IP address receives an ARP answer message, it means that a network device which has the same IP address as the owner's exists in the broadcasting network segment, and an IP address conflict is confirmed. If the owner of IP address receives an ARP request message whose Sender IP address is same as the IP address of the owner while whose Sender MAC (Media Access Control, media access control) is different from the MAC address of the owner, it means that a network device which has the same IP address as owner's exists in the broadcasting network segment, and thereby an alarm is generated.
However, in the above prior art, the owner of the IP address must send ARP request message actively. In present, most of the network devices do not support to send ARP request message actively. Moreover, an IP address conflict detection also requires the network device to support the detection of the IP address and MAC address of the received ARP request message. However, in present, most of the network devices either discard or do not detect the ARP request message.